Excerpt from A Decade of American Government in the Philippines, 1903-1913 The possession of the Philippines came suddenly and unexpectedly to the American people. A succession Of events which were not anticipated, but which could not properly be avoided, bound the islands to us. In Apiil 1898, war was commenced to end Spanish domination in Cuba, but the first blow was struck in the Far East. For a long period the United States had kept a small squadron in Asiatic waters, and at the beginning of the war, no American naval base then existing, it was gathered at Hongkong. The British government, complying with its duty as a neutral, ordered the American Ships to depart. Three possible directions were open to the Navy Depart ment: interne at Hongkong and remain under British control for the period of the war; return to the United States, passing from port to port for those limited supplies of fuel which international regulations permit; or take a base from the enemy. This last course was adopted, and on May 1, Commodore Dewey entered the harbor of Ma nila, destroyed the Spanish fleet, and captured the naval station at Cavite. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.